kasmenon

The Cockroach Janta Party was founded by Dipke online, after the infamous  CJI Surya Kant's insensitive  reference to  unemployed students as cockroaches. The CJI's  role in history will never be for his contributions as  a judge( which is in itself questionable) but for this  quote. In a way he , in history, may be one of the  founding fathers of CJP!!! Coming back to Dipke.  A Maharastrian. One cannot but recollect Tilak , Gokhale  and Ambedkar, three Marathi stalwarts of Indian independence.  They ignited the consciousness of the then Bharat of many fiefdoms, a land mass without a boundary, ruled for ages by monarchs of all faiths. Ignited it and made it realise what freedom was. Gandhi then gave it mass appeal. Rest is history. Can we then look at Dipke, the modern Marathi manus ( inspite of the facts he is in US of A now,  but then so was Gandhi, Nehru too, both   educated there. Gandhi worked there too) as the modern...

  During Independence and immediately after,  Gandhi, Nehru, Tilak, Ambekar,  each dominated the mind space of Indians. Understandable,  as the freedom movement was vastly emotional and inspirational. Democracy was alien. But after our first democratic government of Nehru, who along with others, ushered in a secular, socialist,  liberal democracy, we have strayed . He was unquestioned leader but not a fascist at all. But inspite that  a personality driven society took shape too.   After  Nehru, a few ones( like Nanda , Sahstri)  were mild leaders. Then we had Indira . Later again after few more we had  Rajeev . Then again after three more we had Vajpayee and now  Narendra Gautam Modi. Those in between were not inspirational or dominating. The ones like Nehru, Indira, Rajeev, Vajpayee and Modi   actually promoted a  personality cult. Would be somewhat unsure here about Vajpayee though. Many state CMs were merrily b...

  The US, under Trump and Isreal,  are no longer pretending. No longer  camoflaging their deep desire to rule and control the world. Like Britian did and Germany wanted or like Romans wanted.   After dividing and, thereby,  weakening the then  USSR , the US was the lone superpower , a status it wasted , according to right wingers like Trump.  Now China is soon replacing USSR and can oppose the US in future!  So an urgency!! The US , its peoole,  its administrators,  media etc  beleives the US is has the  right  to the worlds wealth . They think they are powerful. They  regard everyone else capable of opposing them( China Russia, Iran, Iraq, North Korea,  Cuba, Sweden, Turkey and so on) as inferior people, terrorists,  not democratic etc. They think its their right to stop these nations from exerting. Isreal, backed by the wealthy  Jews in the  US,  has been a B team of the US,  used ...

Acknowledgement: extracts from research and published articles  History has a habit of returning in unexpected forms. Today’s confrontation between the United States, Israel, and Iran in the Persian Gulf evokes a parallel with one of history's most famous military disasters the Battle of Carrhae in 53 BCE . At that moment, the mighty Roman Empire marched east convinced that Persia would collapse under the weight of Roman power. Instead, Rome encountered a civilization that understood how to defeat stronger enemies through strategy, patience, and geography. Two thousand years later, the conflict around the Strait of Hormuz suggests that the ancient Persian lesson may still be relevant. It seems that  the European plus the US plus zionists have not learnt from history.  The Roman disaster began with the ambitions of Marcus Licinius Crassus , one of the wealthiest and most powerful men in Rome. Before him   Julius Caesar and Pompey acheived glory . While Caesar...

When dictators or charismatic one man rulers ( Example Gadaffi, Saddam, Xi , Putin, Mao, Stalin, Erdogan, Netanyahu,  MBD, Modi, Trump, Paki army rulers,  various gulf rulers, African rulers, Khomeni and Khamenei etc) are overthrown or die in office, after decades of rule,  the countries they rule find it tough to transit.  Deviating a little, back home, one man or women  party in india ( AIDMK, Shiv Sena, NCP, DMK, Congress under Gandhis) are also like that.  Where dictators ruled , chaos may prevail for years after they are no longer there.Or new ones emerge.  Democracies,  though, manage somehow. Kings and monarch or religion dominated political rules,   manage to have a succession plan and goes through with it,  albeit occasional killings happen before that.  The only ones that go on with some stability are mature democracies like UK. West Europe, even immature democratic India, Canada, Australia, NZ and even the US( Trump ...

  Many leaders world over, at least those who belong to the 50+ generation and essentially the democratically inclined world, beleive the post war world order based on rules, treaties and decent diplomacy is over. Its now based on exentric, egoistic and, in many ways, whimsical leaders who , ride on a rightist nationalistic rethoric   wave and try to influence the world.   However , fundamentally, one factor remains the same. The powerful among them , economically and militarily,  continue to have  considerably more influence on matters.  While this has been so,  for thousands of years, technology, media and super fast information flow has ensured the influences impact quick and fast. Leaving most nations clueless. By the time they figure it out,  things have drastically changed again. So the future will retain this characteristic of speedy actions and influence. Interdependence , however.  remain  strong. This means that short ter...

On the eve of the Budget,  the futility is depressing but the ignorance is becoming a tragedy.   We boast, or at least the lords who govern us asks us to digest, that we are the 4th largest economy !   Fact:  #  Nominal per capita income stands at roughly USD 2,818  per annum. In  *nominal per capita terms, India is ranked around 144th globally*..   For whom are we 4th largest , exactly? Yes, India has overtaken Japan in total GDP . But when that wealth is divided among 1.4 billion people, reality looks very different.  Even on purchasing power parity , we are still only around 125th. These rankings are not academic. They define how people live. Net FDI is now negative Wealth continues to concentrate at the top, with * one percent of the population controlling nearly half the country’s wealth *. Consumption keeps struttering. Lending or credit off-take is  a laggard. Sluggish  deposts. Unemployment consistantly at al...

Traditional and, in particular, post ww2 processes and routes towards dealing with natiinal interests ( in this case US) was based on slow diplomatic talks and pressures , leverage  international bodies like UN , world Bank , IMF etc  to advantage.  Even though the US and other developed nations manipulated the process through back door efforts, it still meant slow progress and often a stalemate. So, as a conseqence, the US often tried to use  force to get what it wants ( Middle east , Afghanistan for US . Falkland,  Argentina in case of UK, Ukraine for US and Russia) with doubtful results. Still, the balance of power , economic development of China , weakness of UK and EU, conservative US leadership etc  made US efforts less effective. Then comes Trump's second term.  He had no faith in the slow uncertain process. He is a impatient deal maker used to taking huge risks. He saw through the system in his first term. So he starts by shaking up the slee...

  Recently managed to get some knowledge about this.  Rhw Sindhu River  a major Asian river that flows through China (Tibet), India, and Pakistan, originating in the Tibetan Plateau and emptying into the Arabian Sea. Many ancient invaders had to struggle to cross this river to enter the land south. The Persians in early 6th century  reached the river Nadar crossed it. They called the people south if thebriver as Hindus  as they found pronouncing the S difficult.  The Greeks then ( mind you there were several intermediate epochs but the gist is this) corrupted the Sindhu river name and word  Hindus into the word  Indus. The river was also called Indus. Then the region  south of Indus became India.  Now once the subject of names what about Bharat. Its stems from the Sanskrit Bharata. One version is that  the name comes from a legendary emperor named Bharata, who was a descendant of the Vedic tribe of Bharatas. He was a wise and powerf...

Kllling fileds : *Venusuala*  For those who  had not followed history and the evolution in  international political post WW2 , here is a repeat of the forces that controlled several nations progress. *Venezuela's political history* is defined by periods of military rule and autocratic dictatorships, punctuated by a relatively stable and democratic era ( early 60's to eightees)  and more recently, a shift toward increasing authoritarianism/ dictatorship,  under Hugo Chávez and his successor, Nicolás Maduro. Anti-government protests have flared up and hundreds of people have been arrested by the security forces, which remain loyal to  Maduro. The US has intrests in oil and so are Europe and some other Latin American countries.  Plus, the US is entangled in the Drug business and crime.  They propped up  Mr  Guaido to seize control but the dictator stopped that. Then lawmaker María Corina  became popular among the opposition. The US and...

Human begins, a vast  majority of them ( 90% or more) are constantly trying to survive . With their hopes and aspirations or  with the mere task of managing couple of meals per day. They live by the day. Few have the time or the intrest for statecraft, governance, rights , equality and thus democracy. At most religion occupies their left over time. Education is only for survival and not for knowledge and wisdom.  It's the nature of people then to be led, told what to do, what to think and what to beleive, whom to trust and whom to hate, what is right and wrong.  They leave all this  to those who lead them. So its easy for  those like Trump, Modi, Putin, Netanyahu, Khameni, Jihadis, Taliban, RSS, Maoists, khlu klax kan and the likes to   control peoole. The Trump and Modi Bhakts, the islamists, the christian extreme right, the Jews and many,  are led like cattle and they follow! A huge mass of humans, across continents, act like zombies and ar...

 Someone posted some Gyan! Saying if you do 1% better everyday, in small increments and deeds, you will be reaching your goals!  Set me analysing it. Here are my thoughts on a lazy cloudy  saturday: The 1% better or improvements would tantamount to perfection i.e 100% in 100 days. You get to be where no human has been before. On the frontiers of being God himself. You may even replace Him as he too would not be 100% perfect, considering the mess He has created.  The problem with this approach is, however, multifold.  Firstly, there could be days where you slip 1% or even more. For example, the wife   may frequently  consider you useless!! So this means many more days than 100 to reach 100%. Secondly, as you reach closer to 100%, what physicists call as asymtotically approach 100%, the going gets tougher and tougher. You may never reach 100% Thirdly, Gods do not like competition.Remember King Mahabali, the most perfect King who ruled Kerala? Gods d...

 Food for thought in a idle week end  Jesus, son of Marry and from Nasertth, may his mercifullness  bless us,   was sent by the  Christian God to purify humans.  Allah, have mercy on us, sent one prophet, Mohammed, from Mecca, to purify Muslims.  Buddha and Mahaveera were humans and they did not have a God, but was there to purify humans...and so on. Now, Hindus are tough, not easy to purify. It has likes of you and me!!!  So Gods had to send or come themself,  as humans. Krishna, Ram, Hanuman and over a score and twenty, to try and purify Hindus. These Hindu Gods were insightful..  no half measures for them.... carpet bomb and hope the humans Hindus get purified.  Result of all these  attempts by the various Gods of all relgions are there to see , right in front of us.   Boss, create tho Kiya,  sambalna mushkil hai!! Kuch Naya tarika nikalo bhai. Jaldi...hurry up ji.

 A new rouge state?   Who would have thought that one day the US of A will be on the way to becoming a rouge state? The US had taken the mantel of establishing democracy across the world, post WW2. While that was the pretext,  the real intent was to gain moral high ground and subtly spread American influence everywhere, oppose the USSR/ Russia and later China.  That phase has outlived it's utility  now and other nations have become powerful and smarter. American military might is now not good enough as the opponets too have  similar weapons America's  inability  to take in war  based loss of lives or casualty. Erosion of their economic clout. All these have left the US with few options.  So now with a Bully in office and his dislike for lawful institutions, would mean that the US  will drop all pretensions and use might, at some cost. To act as a state that does not  respect international law or the  UN charter ( whic...

  THE LONAVALA DAYS A nice bloke he was. Lady wealth always at his side, he traversed life as there was nothing else to it than wine and dine with his fairies. He was clever at making everyone believe his hard work and brilliant marketing insights, kept the organization ticking. He truly had perfected his immense charm and skills to bowl the maidens over. Both at home and office. One of the few good things that he did, this nice bloke, a colleague of mine, was inviting us to his holiday home in Lonavala often. Off we used to go on a Friday weekend. The drive of couple of hours, laid the foundation of great expectation. These were rare occasions for him as none of the fair maidens were with him. Rest of us kind of being the occasional punishment given to him by goddess Venus. The ancestral house, designed elegantly and decently kept, say amid a similar one of his cousins and among trees and plants all around. Thick and green. A functioning kitchen which your truly was assigne...

  Some world developments that will alter the old-world order: 1. The US has lost its ability to control major events in the world and is finding it hard to reconcile to this fact.  Its leadership finds US citizens polarized and this weakens its ability to evolve policy. 2. The UK is now practically a nobody and has fully surrendered its   historical role of an independent influencer of world order, to the US. Economically it has limited clout 3.France and Germany no longer subjugate their right to influence world policy, to the US and is increasingly taking an independent view. 4. Russia is considerably weakened, economically and militarily and is only able to influence world policy marginally 5. China is much more powerful and follows a very independent policy but is yet unable to influence the rest of the developed world, though its influence among the rest is Increasing. 6. Israel is fully exposed both militarily and as a responsible nation. 7. All other n...

  ISREA LI AND THE US/WEST GOVT’S CAUGHT IN OWN MESS The US of A is now unsure of what it wants and what it should do. Issue: Israel.   While it openly assisted Israel, when that Jewish state displaced lakhs of Palestinians and took over half their lands, during the last decade, even took over Jerusalem (Trump was first to approve) while   the UN kept quiet. The consequence of this was obvious. Retaliation in abundance, in a manner a "back to the wall" nation could.  Hamas did that two months back and took all by surprise. Israel went on a rampage.  unplanned and with revenge in mind. Leading to huge humanitarian issues. Thousands of lives lost, millions displaced, many dyeing due to lack of food and water   and hundreds of Israelis kidnapped. There seems to be a stalemate. Suddenly, public opinion in US changed. The election season meant polls. These polls surprised Democrats, including Biden.  Large numbers of voters found US not doing ...

The British monarch King Charles is diagnosed with cancer, though they have not revealed , as per custom,  what kind or how bad it is. He has withdrawn from many official duties. He is undergoing treatment at home for now.  Why is this of intrest to many people in the world, apart from the fact that an important person is unfortunately taken ill?  The world watches as Britian's fully functional monarchy works in tandem with one of the most effective democracies in the world. All of the free world looks at it and learns. Britian  does not have a fully written or integrated constitution but several pieces of documents. It relies on its tradition, custom ,  protocol and precedents and attaches great importance to all these. The highly evolved culture rarely deviates from this and has  very strong institutions  and  the forth pillar that ensures this.. The monarch plays  a much more important role than, say, the Indian president , whose office ha...

Paytm and Byju two darling start ups, with multi billion dollar valuations, are now in the dumps due to serious governance issues. There are thousands like these. But it's not only startups, corporates here in India work as fiefdoms of the  original promoters, even after they go public or even if they have borrowed from institutions. The promoter is king and  the board members are mostly yes men or women.  Unethical pratices, siphoning of funds, king style lifestyle and whimsical interference in running the organisation,  is standard practice.  One can find only few exceptions, probably, the Tatas  and, maybe, the IT firms like Infosys etc too. Entitlement culture is  rampant.. They grow, not due to a good strategy or product, but  because:  a) India has huge potential and untapped demand b) wheeling dealing with govt , financial institutions and regulatory authorities. c) Political patronage.  Most shy away from creating world class org...

  Looking at the frenzy and the emotion that has been engineered through clever use and manipulation of religious faith, by the ruler and his ilk, it would seem that Lord Ram was lost, exiled and in deep trouble for last hundreds of years.  He was in dire straits, much more in agony than what He underwent during his forced vanvas way back during the period 800 BCE.  It was left to mere mortals, and that too a bunch of devious ones, to retrieve Him, build an abode for Him and create events that the lord has never seen or wanted, even during his reign, about 2800 years back. In addition, He is perplexed, it would seem, to find that Sita ma and the divine Hanuman is nowhere in sight, in this reincarnation. Instead, He finds only one bearded man trying to be around him. Even claiming to be representing Him. He still remembers his birth day, called Ramanavami by his devotees. He now finds that day relegated along with Dusshera and Diwali, and in its place another day, ordai...